Posted on July 11, 2012 10:11:44 PM [
BusinessWorld Online ]
AYALA LAND, Inc. has received a
P13.6-billion infusion from its parent Ayala Corp., which reinvested proceeds
from a top-up placement, disclosures to the local bourse yesterday showed.
The infusion into Ayala Land comes as the developer pursues expansion
plans, which include possibly tapping the land bank of Ortigas & Co.
Limited Partnership Holdings, Inc.
Ayala Land said its executive
committee approved on Tuesday evening the sale of 680 million listed common
shares of stock in the company held by Ayala Corp. for P20 per share to
unspecified buyers.
The shares were sold at a 4.988%
discount to their closing price of P21.05 on Tuesday.
“There were various institutional
investors, foreign as well as local who participated in the placement. Most of
them know Ayala Land quite well and have been following the company’s progress
over the years,” Jaime E. Ysmael, Ayala Land chief finance officer, told
BusinessWorld in a text message yesterday.
The executive committee further
approved the issuance of an equal number of new Ayala Land shares at the same
price, thus making Ayala Corp. the seller of the placement tranche as well as
the subscriber of the subscription tranche.
Proceeds from the top-up placement
will be earmarked for Ayala Land’s future asset acquisitions, the developer said,
pointing to funding needed for a potential tie-up with the Ortigas family.
Last month, it was reported that Ayala
Land was poised to enter into negotiations with the Ortigas family for a
“strategic alliance” aimed at possibly building residential, office, retail,
and hotel components inside and outside Metro Manila, with Ayala Land allotting
an initial P15 billion for this venture.
This partnership, if sealed, is
expected to hand the listed developer access to approximately 55 hectares of
prime properties in Metro Manila, Ayala Land’s disclosure added.
“Following this transaction, Ayala
Corp.’s percentage ownership in the voting stock of Ayala Land will be
marginally reduced from 73.07% to 71.22% and its ownership of Ayala Land’s
common stock will be reduced from 53.06% to 50.43%,” the parent firm said in a
separate disclosure.
“The transaction is not expected to
result in any impact on Ayala Corp.’s cash flow and net income. [We] will
maintain the same number of common shares it held in Ayala Land…” it added.
Goldman Sachs (Singapore) Pte.,
JPMorgan, and UBS Investment Bank acted as bookrunners and placement agents for
the transaction.
BPI Capital Corp. served as sole
domestic coordinator while CLSA Ltd. acted as co-manager.
Moving forward, Ayala Land said it
will apply for the listing of the newly-issued shares on the Philippine Stock
Exchange, but it did not specify a timetable for this.
Shares of Ayala Land fell by 1.90% to
P20.65 from P21.05 at its previous close while those of Ayala Corp. surged by
4.37% to P478.00 versus P458.00 yesterday. -- Franz Jonathan G. de la Fuente
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